SpaceX to undergo 4th test launch of its 37-storey Starship rocket

SpaceX to undergo 4th test launch of its 37-storey Starship rocket

Hot on the heels of the successful crewed launch of Boeing’s new CST-100 Starliner on Wednesday, we have another rocket launch: This time it’s SpaceX’s massive Starship. This is the fourth test flight of the rocket — which will be uncrewed — that SpaceX founder Elon Musk hopes will one day take astronauts to Mars. The 120-minute … Read more

Recent solar storm and eclipse are reminders we live in the sun’s embrace

Recent solar storm and eclipse are reminders we live in the sun’s embrace

The colourful auroras that treated skywatchers across the country last weekend and the total solar eclipse last month are reminders that the Earth is in direct line of fire from activities on the surface of the sun. The Space Weather division of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has been issuing warnings for … Read more

Time in space is bad for the bones. N.S. prof’s research could help humans on Earth

Time in space is bad for the bones. N.S. prof’s research could help humans on Earth

For two decades, Tamara Franz-Odendaal has been studying how space travel affects the human skeleton. Because of the absence of gravity in space, astronauts experience bone loss when they get back to Earth. “We always think of it as just the scaffold that kind of keeps the body together, but it’s a really dynamic tissue,” … Read more

NASA streamed its 1st video from deep space via laser. More important, it’s of a cat

NASA streamed its 1st video from deep space via laser. More important, it’s of a cat

It’s not every day that a video of a cat goes viral. OK, it’s not every day that a video of a cat goes viral and marks a historical milestone for space exploration. But that’s what happened when NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications experiment beamed an ultra-high definition streaming video back to Earth on Dec. 11 from 31 million kilometers … Read more